India sends 3 mn vaccine doses to neighbours, Pak gets some from China

China has offered 500,000 doses of a Coronavirus vaccine to its ally Pakistan, an apparent response to the rolling out of supplies by India for its neighbours and key partners, including three million doses delivered to Bangladesh and Nepal on Thursday.

Two Indian flights carried two million doses of Covishield to Dhaka and one million doses to Kathmandu, and people familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity that supplies would be sent to Seychelles (50,000 doses), Mauritius (100,000 doses) and Myanmar (1.5 million doses) on Friday.

Seven countries – Bhutan, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Seychelles, Myanmar and Mauritius – are part of India’s initial rollout of vaccines as grant assistance. There are also plans to supply doses to Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.